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Dear colleagues, I` writing few pages about web sales

1. both about him and about products In e commerce this issue is solved by putting at work as many e salesmen as possible and then putting each customer in contact with the most suitable one For instance a landing page for a science site will provide one pathway for professors and one for students and then for freshmen and final year students etc with at each end one well defined e salesman for the selected customer Relationship is mainly information exchange Information provided by the website are a measure of the salesman reliability and also the customer must provide information It is therefore important that information management is structured Steps involved in information management could be e Acquisition Identification of sources and selection criteria like relevance reliability and accuracy We need to be able to trace back the source and verify it for updates e Creation The acquired info should be rearranged in a way suitable for the website visitor and for the e salesman e Retention Will information be available only on the website or could it be downloaded shared in some way e Circulation How much easy will it be for the user to find that 36 66 We will sell e customers to the customers Gianluigi Delucca Edition I information inside the website Should he register qualify Do we wish to diffuse it as much as possible e Use Knowledge transfer takes place only if it causes a change in operating T
2. 49 66 We will sell e customers to the customers Gianluigi Delucca Edition I 50 66 We will sell e customers to the customers Gianluigi Delucca Edition I Sales measures Il There are software packages that analyse the website traffic and as you may expect measures easily available from them may be not the ones you are interested in Therefore it is always right to follow the golden rule design the website with in mind what you wish to measure Customer s roles Customer s roles are important in the management of the e commerce because for each of them the target of the salesman is to proceed to money transfer but with different modalities He will not discuss discounts with the Initiator or technical details with the Buyer he will not go into details with the Buyer if the Decision maker is still pondering etc The ratio Number of customer number of invoices is the efficacy evaluation of the website as long as customer expected role is the Buyer For the e salesman are possible more specific targets sell again the same product sell other products sell consumable sell after sales services e g Upgrades and Updates For Non buyers other measures of efficacy are needed Those could be planned for instance creating areas for each customer role or monitor the most used pathways by buyers compared with pathways used by Non buyers and measure the crossings of borders When the website is large
3. We will sell e customers to the customers Gianluigi Delucca Edition I experiments of street spaces where you can browse shelves or try products but you have to buy on the net with home delivery Lately a big e commerce retailer is offering a no cost return to any number of products purchased to allow customers to try them You can allow people to enter inside the vending machine One option is to create a street corner where there are only vending machines as it is possible to see in some cities Just the same when you enter or send someone in a mini middle mega super market with a detailed list of goods to buy and precise instructions to follow There will be other humans already there shop assistants as part of the vending machine or of the product They are caring about maintenance shelf filling cleaning providing custom production packaging 55 grams of smoked fish one slice please acting as sales tools where is the milk please managing complaint on site I found it but expiry date was yesterday managing payment If suitable you may use people as sales tool for a vending machine as you can see in airports when you see assistants beside a check in automated system The e commerce shop assistant functions or part of them may be performed by humans through chat e mail telephone video connection or them could just look like a person with the use of an avatar The salesman s role of the shop
4. e we are open for suggestion from his side about expanding our relationship We like offers of collaboration we ask suggestions feedback We would appreciate his opinion for instance as a tester user e we show to him the value of the company and of the sales team so he can be proud of the cooperation For instance we show salesman awards and certification received and list of reference sites others are saying that he is cooperating with valuable people e we offer revenues sharing wherever it is possible we get something he gets something too We are partners What change in the behaviour which click of the customer we expect after he gets the info Leadership The main concern for the e salesman is how to keep the lead of the relationship along the sales process If you sit for a cup of tea then the starting roles are set You are a guest a very welcome and honoured guest but a guest in someone s else house It is like getting the white in a chess game or the first move in a GO game In order to lead the salesman should know the answer of basic questions Why the customer should give his money to us We are strong at least on one important point for him Which one We do not know in advance what could it be the most important point for that specific customer role and we have to prepare the best 40 66 We will sell e customers to the customers Gianluigi Delucca Edition I Arguments list we can for each
5. sometimes I just do not have the heart to say to the speaker that 90 of forecasted customers are not able to afford the cost of the product although given to them for free Moreover the e commerce site is the place where entrepreneurs programmers designers marketers and sales professionals meet They come from different backgrounds and use the same word with different meanings an inexhaustible source of misunderstandings For all those situations I looked for a book to be used as a common basis to start the discussion and I have not found it Most of the e commerce books are only about web marketing in some of them there is a small section on sales I wrote a few pages on e commerce from the Sales point of view with in mind this goal of a common base of departure for a discussion on web sales among people with different 3 66 We will sell e customers to the customers Gianluigi Delucca Edition I backgrounds A work document where the discussion of the arguments is limited to the indispensable There are no arguments of Marketing or Web Marketing within the book only Sales I publish it hoping that anyone interested in selling on the Web for SMEs and Startups will find hints for his own reflections Gianluigi Delucca Parma 13 01 2015 4 66 We will sell e customers to the customers Gianluigi Delucca Edition I Author Gianluigi Delucca 35 years of work should be able to curb unflagging enthusiasm for life Not f
6. we design a website with 3 pages to obtain C as Exit page from an optimal pathway with the sequence page A page B page C Then we got some traffic Page A gt Page C gt Page B Page B gt Page A gt Page C Page B gt out Page B gt Page C gt Page A Page C gt out Total visits 5 but no one has followed our optimal pathway Three visits explored the full pathway but in a different order and only one with C as Exit page x X k How to improve First there is the target to get more people exploring all pages Therefore we will monitor Bounce rate 1 Ratio number of times a page is the first one number of times the page is the only one in our example Page A 0 Page B 33 Page C 100 Bounce rate 2 Ratio number of times a page is the first one number of times there are 2 visited pages in our example Page A 0 Page B 0 Page C 0 52 66 We will sell e customers to the customers Gianluigi Delucca Edition I Then we wish that page A is the Entry page in our example 1 5 20 Then that page C is the Exit page in our example 2 5 40 Time In theory each single page can be viewed by an indefinite number of visitors 24 7 The time the customer spends inside the website is Sales time therefore it is an important number It is possible to measure the time spent by each customer in each page but that will not provide information about what the customer was doing while the page was in front of his
7. women While Sales is trying to understand the reason Marketing will push the men s landing page 55 66 We will sell e customers to the customers Gianluigi Delucca Edition I 56 66 We will sell e customers to the customers Gianluigi Delucca Edition I Interactions among sales channels Some American company have moved successfully from full physical to full Internet structure more than 15 years ago Nowadays we see more and more a mix that looks for the company s total return An evaluation of each sales channel is needed e How much we want to get From which customer How much who where with which competition when with what what conditions and constraints Strategy implemented by type of customer territory segment basic criteria of the organization number of customers to reach territories to develop segments of consumers uses to reach characteristics of customers to reach e Number of customers importance location coverage type of usage of the product mix frequency prices customer acquisition loss of customers Absolute margin margin mix of products in the portfolio concentration of sales market quotas where both macro and micro number of active customers and frequency of purchase increase in sales increase of customer number number and dimension of customers for areas the average acquisition time of the order After that it is needed to evaluate how those sales channels could cooperate an
8. it is not easy to obtain both easy access of the information and an easy to understand navigation for each customer role The flexibility requirements to implement and manage an e salesman could be technically too difficult or expensive in one single website Sometime more versions of the same shop are an option crafting them on smaller groups of customers or for different customer roles Example Customer searched a hotel in Rome Question from the salesman Would you like the listing ordered for Price Destination If Price is selected maybe the customer would accept to change destination inside that price range or to be redirected toward your best buy site A possible measure is then the ratio price 51 66 We will sell e customers to the customers Gianluigi Delucca Edition I listing requests destination s changes where the Decision maker customer role is still active While the ratio price listing requests best buy redirections would be Buyer and or Market expert roles Each customer s role could be played with several personalities or subgroups For instance there will be customers eager to find a helping hand others that will refuse any attempt from your side to offer a suggestion Each of them would need a different pathway Clickstream When the customer s main way of communication is the click on the e commerce website the analysis of clickstream is a necessary measure of the dialogue Example
9. new thinks it will end up with about 36 500 000 things Let s say that 10 billion living humans will do the same The total number of things will be roughly 1 000 000 000 000 000 000 10 exp 18 One car contains about 10 000 parts if each of the 1 000 things every human will buy each day of his life will have a similar number of parts the total will be up to 10 exp 22 It is still a small fraction of the Ipv6 numbering potential of 10 exp 38 That means for instance that the refrigerator and or the store room of your flat will know each of the goods inside with relative expiring date and nutritional facts and will know what was in and out every single day in the past few years The refrigerator will prepare the daily weekly monthly shopping list accordingly strolling the web for the best offer available for single items and for the complete list optimising the use of space and temperature for the season As well as providing recipes options for the evening s cooking that use the food that is expiring first with relative instructions and cooking time in agreement with the cookware available and desired calories intake The home theatre will do the same with TV channels movies and music The closet will have a great time It will prepare you clothes for the day mixing sizes colours fabrics with the weather the type of people you plan to meet the latest fashion in the city where you are going After your quarterly 3d full body scan it
10. printed receipt to show the expense Maybe he is not consuming it immediately or it is a gift Would he appreciate a bag to carry it He got the receipt bag coupon How will he use it when he will be back Why should he collect them Maybe he will play the number in a lottery that I the vending machine the website will organise Maybe if he inserts the code of the receipt I could allow him to change paper for coins even if he is not buying something entering the reserved forum chat If he will get a meaningful number of receipts I will write him a best friend greeting card a message a gift but I d need his mail address or his telephone number for an SMS Where could he write it down for me Is there an easy way for him to contact me Not the product but me the vending machine the salesman the website so the customer may tell me how much he enjoyed to buy from me to refer friends when he will tell them how nice I am tell me if he was unsatisfied yes it is possible Did he noticed that on the receipt there is all the needed information to come back How will he remember or find out my address to meet me again if he forgets the receipt Shall I mail him the address and the nearest bus metro station here and there How I will remember him to tell him how nice it was to meet him and to recognise him when he will be back I could be able to offer him an even better sales experience You may also see Sales procedures an
11. screen e g chatting We will have to evaluate the time between clicks checking the dynamics of the page s visit and measure how many customers proceed to the next step of the expected pathway Timing of the visit during the day time spent in each page and between events and the total time spent along the pathway may be used to label and weight customer s roles and help to provide suitable alternative or improved pathways Example the area of the website focused on the Decision maker role is visited in two peak hours 10 a m and 10 pm Customers in the morning visit fewer pages for a shorter time but are following the pathway toward money transfer with a higher percentage than night customers even if the latter are visiting more pages and for more time The non buyers of the night are the buyers of the following days or always non buyers How to monitor it How to define their role Value of the e salesman Work for Sales it is not just staying in touch with the customer it is push pull him along the sales process and supervise create pathways to money transfer for each customer role Example We have a bag in 3 versions each with his own price level cheap standard and expensive Marketing will provide a landing page for each of them 53 66 We will sell e customers to the customers Gianluigi Delucca Edition I The vending machine would take them as they come but selling is risk taking E salesman will take some risk
12. that need to define Sales in a similar way using a more general definition like The process that moves value from customer to salesman That Sales definition does not refer to products or companies That should help to clarify that there is something knowledge expertise that is not related to the product but pertains to the process and that Sales may bring money to a company but that is only an intermediate step of bringing money to the Salesman as any Sales manager working with agents and distributors knows It is also implying that Customer and Sales may not share a product definition and that the money the salesman is getting may be shared among companies he is working with Example A car manufacturer s buyer office is buying parts for production The salesman is selling to him lamps that are a highly competitive product But the salesman is also selling handles that are not competitive Then he will prepare an offer for lamps including handles for the same car model as a possible discount The buyer will accept using the lamps for the car production and handles for a r amp d project he is not allowed to talk about Salesman will get money from the lamp and from the handles manufacturer optimising his own revenues Sales as defined here requires that customer is knowing where his money is knowing where his money should be delivered knowing how much money he will need to transfer willing to do the transfer able to do th
13. the relationship that opens unexpected exit doors each one with his own probability Company policy may leave to Sales some flexibility on product characteristics custom colours custom sizes custom prices giving more options for actions That brings in the bargaining issue Where inside the e commerce site is the customer allowed to ask for a special custom characteristic What should be the e salesman reaction Vending machines may also provide special offers but always fixed in advance As long as the manufacturer sales manager is willing or able to manage it if and when it is suitable or needed both on short and long term to change the selling price or other characteristics for a single sale is an option tied to the e salesman customer relationship Customer as Decision maker Both motivation and budget are needed for the Decision maker Desires can be met with varying degrees of intensity The purchase motivation 42 66 We will sell e customers to the customers Gianluigi Delucca Edition I and purchasing power could bring the decision of the customer and choice of which product to buy Purchasing power Budget limit could be sometime fixed but in many situations the motivation could change the budget However we have to remember that Marketing did his work creating a product and therefore positioning it inside a price range Salesman s work is to double check that all purchasing power available at the moment is u
14. trying to swap from lower price items to more expensive ones and or sell more units That means that the website should allow by design not only to monitor what is going on traffic but also to insert positions where customer interactions events could be created as needed and measured We may then track how many upsales were obtained and with which pathway In order to measure e salesman s overall performance it will be needed to be able to shut down the e salesman s activity for some time and compare results between the vending machine and the e shop The difference over a defined time interval will provide an estimation of the e salesman s generated value You may keep the vending machine website s version in a separate area and activate it as needed or you may keep it always at work in a parallel website for a continuous monitoring Interface with marketing Cooperation and competition are always present between Marketing and Sales While both are interested in the company success Sales is focused on money transfer Landing pages are the arrival of some Marketing activities and starting points of Sales Both functions need to understand the full process in order to assure the possible company s best performance Example Let s say that Marketing is preparing a landing page for men and one for women and Sales will act on that basis From visitor data collection Marketing may discover that there are more women enteri
15. will check needed size changes and search the web for the new garments And that is something we are able to imagine because it is already possible Science is young electronics in his infancy and Internet just born How will the customer manage them 63 66 We will sell e customers to the customers Gianluigi Delucca Edition I From etiquette to e robbery You were running your business as usual when a sales consultant explained to you that to be polite would improve the businesses And then that keeping the shop clean would improve the businesses that your handshake could be improved that using some words instead of other will work and the way you ask questions is important What is wrong in being polite Those are social rules and we adapt to them Since few years the salesman may learn what to double check about the way the customer moves eyes uses verbs sit walk And how to connect all of this and use it to change its own behaviour What is wrong in optimising communications The customer may wrongly believe he is communicating only at one level and the salesman is using consciously multiple channels to make the interaction easier Nowadays we have PC s with cameras looking at you while you surf the web and software for face expression recognition and eye gaze monitoring Those will be part of the e salesman information when trying to find the best way communication channel with you Is it still just etiquette an
16. Marketing jungle Maybe Sales is still active as long as a communication line is at work How to keep the sales process alive when the customer is not there any more The smart vending machine asks itself There are other vending machines in town Will the customer wait and maybe walk a bit more to buy from me Even if the product costs a bit more than in the shop he will cross on his way to reach me Two main reasons are possible e Pleasure of the process Customer experience of sales When he gets the product and walks away he is smiling he did enjoy spending time with me he will remember that joy even if the product itself is not that much or it is just the same he can get everywhere e Sales tools Customer could get something not included in the product he is looking for For instance a Pleasure e Did I said Hello with a smile when he arrived Did I congratulate him for the nice choice when he ended the money transfer He thanked me Was he smiling when walking away e Is ita nice stop for him Is there enough light space while looking for coins or reading SMS Is it cool to stop and consume with a friend in front of me For e commerce it could translate is it cool to show I m using the vending machine on my social network 21 66 We will sell e customers to the customers Gianluigi Delucca Edition I b Sales tools If he is buying for someone else maybe he will appreciate a
17. Updates and upgrades Warranty and after sales support Errors and bugs lists e provide aids suitable for the customer ability and expectations needed for the see touch feel sequence on the use of the product and his performance e define configurations and prepare offers manage discounts 37 66 We will sell e customers to the customers Gianluigi Delucca Edition I payments loan of material and to provide compare function by characteristics All the above sales tools should be distributed inside the website Where when and how those information are managed and positioned should be defined by Sales because those are interaction sources to be used to develop the relationship When you enter the traditional shop inside the bazaar you are invited for a cup of tea The shop owner and the customer start to know each other In order to develop a relationship the e salesman must create two identities The first is who we think the customer is the second is who we think the customer thinks the salesman is 1 Who we think the customer is Who entered the shop In the shop the salesman will try to read the sales lead non verbal communication age sex lifestyle purchasing power mood and will adapt his own Then he will start exploring how to take leadership with a first guess on the customer main role After confirmation he will try to adapt accordingly In a website it is possible to guess something from th
18. WE WILL SELL E CUSTOMERS TO THE CUSTOMERS Gianluigi Delucca ISBN 979 12 200 0005 5 ISBN A 10 979 12200 00055 1 66 We will sell e customers to the customers Gianluigi Delucca Edition I 2 66 We will sell e customers to the customers Gianluigi Delucca Edition I Preface Statements like there is no need of a Sales manager because we sell on the net are easy to listen especially in SMEs and Startups How to react to that nonsense For me the web marketing designs the structure and lists the words of the e commerce site but within that structure and the use of those words is the sales manager who has to manage the e commerce site That is an idea that seems strange to many Explore and explain a new sales channel to someone used to another one is difficult because the roles and functions are similar but each of them with its own characteristics and jargon I have to use many analogies and examples to try to explain how I see these correlations As a business consultant for SMEs and Startups often there is nothing to do They do not have the necessary financial and human resources and or are too proud of their high tech knowledge about web marketing to be willing to discuss a low tech issue as they think is Sales and or are too afraid that the marketing budget painstakingly won could be discussed again After a passionate presentation of a new very nice product that has exhausted the company s finances
19. and them maybe for the customer it is better to search for another one Then we have to check how the customer perceives them a Communication e Are steps well defined with words graphics colours e What if the customer is poorly or not able to read instructions in words e What if he has other limitations it is raining and one hand is for the umbrella b Procedures e What if the requested amount is not available in cash e What if the requested money size is not available e What if the machine is not working In e commerce part of that cost is often self evident the customer will have to go to the right page of the website fill the correct form await confirmations check or uncheck a number of options and declarations type in data and or passwords or preferences etc And do it again and again until he will succeed The same for payments some e commerce 17 66 We will sell e customers to the customers Gianluigi Delucca Edition I sites with several payment options still sell 50 cash with payment on delivery while you find others that at the end of the sales process offer only one method of payment in advance on their own preferred electronic channel The given example looks very simple but that task could be quite an issue in international sales and when the customer is a company or an organisation If we have a monopoly we don t care the Customer will pay any cost But if the Customer has options There are smart
20. ans to e Support in case of need I can always ask to e Need if I do not do it I ll not achieve The solution he will select and the way he reaches the goal will impact on his reputation Reputation is part of the self esteem and therefore influences motivation The Decision maker will wonder consciously or unconsciously if the one that will provide him the product is a suitable Partner significant other if that partnership will impact positively the relationship my reputation with the rest of stakeholders Customers Manufacturers Colleagues Supervisors other salesmen and he will be interested in Validity of other customers Parity with other customers Compliance with agreements of the manufacturer Validity of the producer Validity of the product Customer satisfaction Customer loyalty Reference for others Sales tools should address all those topics positioning them along the expected pathway inside the e shop Time is now We need the Decision maker to believe not only that our solution is the best but also that it is time to buy that solution now And then make sure that he transfers his decision to the Buyer One summing up page and a click that will activate the Buyer is what Decision maker needs The e salesman may be able to let him feel peer pressure We did it what are you waiting for Example the customer is in one page and let s say he is checking the reference list He could b
21. arketing costs The traditional checklist of a salesman begins with geography and prospecting The coverage area is well defined by the company and the salesman has to find address phone number and get an appointment with sales lead Finding sales leads to meet according to the definitions used in these pages is still on the marketing side 13 66 We will sell e customers to the customers Gianluigi Delucca Edition I 14 66 We will sell e customers to the customers Gianluigi Delucca Edition I E commerce as a vending machine The vending machine is a technology at least 2 000 years old It is a nice analogy to start with It consists of two functions Recognition and Sale s procedure Recognition from Sales leads to Customers One sales lead stops in front of the vending machine and ask himself a Is it here that I could get the product I m looking for For Marketing it translates as Is the machine fitting in size shape colour position graphics with the product For a coffee or cigarette vending machine Marketing may decide that the product is one of the list o one of my ways to death life is bad o part of my personal brand I m one of those who do it o one of my pleasures I like it o one of my sins I should not but o one of my energiser methods I feel down o a gift or a courtesy to someone else He she will enjoy o away to refresh memory of my past once I used to o a change in m
22. assistant will be discussed in the e shop chapter When the customer decides what he wants to buy take it off the shelf and put it in the cart This action must be very simple because it is located between desire and purchase In e commerce this function called Shopping Cart is tied to the Cart button and managed by the Shopping Cart software The customer comes to the counter and have to pay He is handed a receipt or invoice In e commerce it is the Checkout phase and it could be included in the Shopping Cart software In e commerce several functions are performed by the web Store manager using the so called CMS Content Management System It is a software that is customized in order to make all those activities available 19 66 We will sell e customers to the customers Gianluigi Delucca Edition I in the most appropriate way for the store manager Marketing note Marketing will also take care of SEO Search Engine Optimization that must constantly adapt the site to the parameters of the search engines and SEM Search Engine Marketing that are activities needed to make your site visible to potential customers Positioning is perhaps the most peculiar characteristic of e commerce The number of people who pass in front of the window of a street shop corresponds to the number of times a page is presented on a sales lead screen This can be done by direct search I want to go to the store www myshop it or as a result of a
23. be obtained leveraging the investments we need to do to serve and develop the end users customer base of the e commerce Example e For the e commerce we will have to manage a larger number of shipments and invoices as well as a higher stock of products o Most likely this will allow a lower order minimum value for the local dealer keeping for him the terms of monthly payment The local dealer could lower his stock with more frequent purchases and a lower requirement of space which would enable a broader product portfolio o The local dealer may ask to send goods directly to the service provider for items not on stock o The service provider may ask the dealer to deliver directly to an end user thus reducing his transportation costs In this case the end user may be charged a prepayment reducing the service provider financial risk o The direct delivery will also be extremely convenient for the service provider unplanned needs when the travel cost from the end user site where he is working to the warehouse of the local dealer is superior to the shipping costs e E commerce will require an on line catalogue that will also be available for the local dealer and the service provider Everybody will know immediately about new models special offers compatibility with older models etc e E commerce will require an order management on line that perhaps could be used as well by local dealers o The service provider will order on line e
24. customers and more simple minded ones we have to smooth the process for those we wish to work with as well as optimising selling costs With more products it is needed to do more The software for electronic commerce requires that the information arrives on the screen of the customer a computer a smartphone a tablet in a quick and reliable way 24 7 The place where data are located and its channels of communication should be adapted to the amount of products that you want to offer and traffic customer visits expected Those are Hosting and server features In a supermarket the Customer should learn the process e g the coin for the cart find out where the product is positioned Also in the e commerce the customer should be driven in his browsing among shelves to a location where he can find what he was searching for his programmed shopping and to see all other products available for unplanned purchases This function is called Navigation Navigation could show several issues for instance one happens when product descriptions are optimised for one device communication that does not match what the customer is using too fast too slow too small During peak hours customers may have to wait in queues also on the net The function of shelves is to show the product in e commerce it is delegated to Product Description Text images software Sometimes it is possible to touch and or try products There have been 18 66
25. d politeness Sales Psychology is a well developed field and there is Psychology of Advertising Psychology of Marketing Consumer Psychology The salesman well trained might quasi hypnotize the customer Hypnosis and the sale is also a field of science TV advertising explores all possible ways of sending messages in interactions of 30 seconds Messages that stay inside you even if you did not notice them With tests that evaluate your free decisions after the interaction On line monitoring of individual physiological parameters EEG EKC EMG maybe mostly used for games will tell the e salesman a lot about your mind emotions weakness unconscious issues Probably more than you or your physician know Is it still just advertising 64 66 We will sell e customers to the customers Gianluigi Delucca Edition I When the e salesman will manage on line and interactively all those information of customer s environment way of life and mind will the customer still be able to negotiate or will he be just e robbed I see a need to develop e customers to allow customers to manage the e commerce activity of the home appliances and to bargain on an equal footing with the e salesmen 65 66 We will sell e customers to the customers Gianluigi Delucca Edition I File WE WILL SELL E CUSTOMERS TO THE CUSTOMERS03 doc_ 26 01 15 Parma Italy ISBN 979 12 200 0005 5 66 66 We will sell e customers to the c
26. d After Money transfer steps as an update of the classic difference between salesman for search and sell and salesman for stay in touch and grow A nice example of up to date vending machine has been implemented by a general merchandise retailer in Seul underground It was pumped in 22 66 We will sell e customers to the customers Gianluigi Delucca Edition I the media as an innovative Marketing example but those customers have 24 hour access to the on line shop why should they stop on their way back home checking out a wall It makes sense to me if browsing the virtual shelves is still too much time consuming on a computer screen and even more on a mobile phone Then to use a large wall as a sales tool to lower the customer cost of sales makes sense Keeping in touch with the customer will require a CRM Customer Relationship Management software based on a database The same raw data could be used by Marketing and Sales but Sales will target the relationship of the customer with the vending machine Example e Marketing will provide a product s sample planning as result that the customer will call a friend and will say I got a sample of a wonderful product you must too get one e Sales will provide a product s sample expecting as a result that the customer will call a friend and will say I got a sample of a wonderful product you must call the salesman It is a lot of work to carefully devel
27. d reinforce each other Paths analysis Let s take for instance an existing distribution that uses dealers There were good reasons why the company decided in the past to use a distribution network instead of a direct selling The technology offered by Internet is changing the situation and it is a must to revaluate that decision Most often however the swap from one system to another is impossible and the best option for the company is to add a parallel channel The first reaction from the existing sales channels will be negative The 57 66 We will sell e customers to the customers Gianluigi Delucca Edition I dealer will fear the unknown possible competition and a possible company strategy to cancel or limit the dealer s structure The salesman will fear a limitation of his volume of sales and or a possible reduction of sales force The adding of a new sales channel should target to improve not only the company s selling performance overall but each sales channel s performance We have to create and optimise paths that will allow a customer to enter from any Marketing channel and to arrive to any Sales channels Then the main question for the sales manager is How may I create positive feedback among sales channels Each money transfer will have a dedicated salesman Each of them should feel the benefit he is getting from the activity of his colleagues Let s say that our company sells to local dealers that offer products
28. e number of invoices Sell more often increase consumption and or your market share the invoice amount Increase mean value purchased in a single order i e Sell more items and or change the mix swap articles with others of higher value and or increase the price of items sold Several other measures could be used to evaluate customers and decide areas of possible improvements For instance Retention rate final customer new customers number number of initial customers over a time frame Turnover 1 CRR Mean seniority 1 Turn over Lifetime value LTV expected value of the customer Mean seniority mean invoice value Example 10 3 8 0 87 CRR 87 i e There is an increase of total customers from 8 to 10 but 7 out of 8 customers were already there 1 87 0 13 Turn over 13 i e 1 out of 8 customers are new 2 were added to the new total meaning that one customer that did buy something in the previous time frame is not there this time 1 0 13 7 6 Mean seniority If the time frame is one day 7 6 days are needed to replace all old customers with new ones 27 66 We will sell e customers to the customers Gianluigi Delucca Edition I 100 7 6 760 If mean sales is 100 day then LTV is 760 In a physical sales channel the time of the salesman is an expensive resource Therefore the longest time usually needed from him to acquire the first order of a new customer is heavi
29. e company do not have enough resources The second chapter Sales measures II lists some of the measures that the Sales manager could use in that situation The e commerce is becoming less an alternative and more and more a complement in the distribution structure In Section 3 I describe a possible approach to analyse the business with multiple sales channels always from the point of view of Sales The first chapter Interactions among Sales Channels proposes that both the products designed by Marketing and sales tools created by Sales contain value and can be transformed into one another The last chapter Where is the limit says what I expect from the future 9 66 We will sell e customers to the customers Gianluigi Delucca Edition I Definitions Here the definitions of the keywords that I ll use in this book An e commerce website is a commercial activity based on a software platform working on Internet There are trades between businesses B2B between companies and private individuals B2C or C2B between private individuals C2C My favourite definition of Customer is The people that carry out a product acquisition process ending with an invoice payment That definition recognises Customers as people pointing at the fact that a Customer no matter how many people form it could be divided in a variety of roles For instance e Initiator sees issues and looks for a solution e Influenc
30. e offered to meet KOL users salesman s best customers Market experts in private or in small groups While you are here why don t you talk to Mr AA or hear what Mr BB is saying about that topic Customer as Market expert Market experts searches and selects products and providers He could be another customer or user a competitor a blogger or any other that could 44 66 We will sell e customers to the customers Gianluigi Delucca Edition I get some credit on the subject He is expected to understand differences among solutions and to search for details He may acquire information from sales network of providers marketing other customers references KOL s and match them with the request We want the Market expert to tell Decision maker that we are the preferred solution because we the e salesman are a more interesting partner especially if the product is not the best available In some cases the Market expert is also Decision maker and when his click is selecting one product then add to cart and a direct way to the cashier should be there But maybe he must only report his results to someone else In that case we can try to make his work easier and get him to like us no matter the product Example we know that from a technical point of view we are very similar to others We show it in comparison charts because WE are Market experts It happens _ that we compare also other characteristics colo
31. e same For instance it could be that one of the marketing targets was to be as near as possible to the customer base and that Company I was very good at it taking the best shop positions Unfortunately that means that they were the first visited by most Customers still on the Decision maker role Therefore more customers were going to visit the competitor shop and there it was possible to verify that the products were actually the same and there was no reason not to buy right away Additional money spent by the Marketing of Company I was creating customers for Company 2 against his own Sales and with the only marketing goal they were proudly measuring as better than competition 31 66 We will sell e customers to the customers Gianluigi Delucca Edition I 32 66 We will sell e customers to the customers Gianluigi Delucca Edition I The e shop in the bazaar The traditional market is a very old activity and always a template for any sales model side by side stalls show the same materials one street for textiles another for vegetables For me the shop is created when Customer goes in one place with some kind of intention or when he calls a company and asks for information or when he enters a website and he starts a relationship with a salesman that actively will guide him to money transfer for a product that will be defined by the relationship itself The salesman is expected to be the interface between the customer b
32. e transfer actually transferring the money Different environments have internal dynamics with the times behaviours and procedures both for organizations and for individuals who give to every requirement a different importance but each of them must be evaluated No matter the amount of money you spend in R amp D in Manufacturing 11 66 We will sell e customers to the customers Gianluigi Delucca Edition I in Marketing how much the customer desperately needs the product if one of the above steps is not possible the manufacturer will bankrupt That process has is own costs Selling costs and in theory all those should be under the Sales Manager responsibility He could work alone or coordinate one or more sales channels with simple or complex organisations In the following pages I ll use Salesman for an individual in front of the customer while Sales manager when coordinating supervising all functions Any communication channel is suitable for Marketing only those that allow money transfer are Sales channels For me the word Product means both goods and services Where Goods is a theoretical product only physical and Services a theoretical product only non physical on a continuum of products with different degree of physical components Price is a product characteristic Example A farmer sells 1 one apple to a wholesale that will sell it 2 to a shop that will sell it 3 to you There are 3 money transfers for 3 pr
33. e way the customer enters the site For instance if he asked the name of the site in a web search engine most probably he already knows something about the store How Is he coming from a fan social network and just needs positive feedback to buy Or is he coming to check if his decision to buy in another shop is well based and we need to show our products top features to him Software packages that are able to track the pathway followed to arrive to the landing page would help That is often not possible and therefore we have to dialogue We may ask the customer any number of questions Is he already someone else customers How much money he could manage Does he know existing customers Does he wish to split the dialogue in several meetings 38 66 We will sell e customers to the customers Gianluigi Delucca Edition I e Is he in need to share info with others in order to complete the sales process e Is he lacking basic info in order to complete the sales process e Are there special needs we should know Questions and answers expertise and several techniques like words mirroring questions open and closed can be adapted to be expressed inside the website On the web like in the movies you need always to think in pictures and develop interaction accordingly The dialogue will develop as much as possible without texts and adapted to the communication media pc mobile used But it is a work that makes sense only i
34. er that supports the request e Market expert searches and selects products and providers e Decision maker that decide if and what to buy In his role he could be allowed or not to decide the amount of money available e Buyer that implements the buying process In his role he could be allowed or not to select among products e User that uses the product Example Language course Organisation level A supervisor notes that the receptionist is making mistakes when speaking a foreign language Then he Initiator makes a request for a language course to HR Decision maker He will make sure that the sales manager Influencer see his request HR will ask someone to select providers Market expert and the administration to buy Buyer The receptionist User will follow the course Individual level I d like to study a foreign language because I d like to travel and I subscribe to one course My favourite definition of Sales is The process that moves money from the customer s bank account to the salesman s bank account It points at Sales as the only positive side of the cash flow as it is in the economic 10 66 We will sell e customers to the customers Gianluigi Delucca Edition I balance sheet Sales is an income that you try to optimise upwards I referred to money because it is easier to understand and it covers most cases Companies and organisations may write other balance sheets environmental social
35. es comforts of life perceived as unsatisfactory Where inside the website is the customer able to tell his story to us Those are the places where the e salesman should arouse passionate desires from low intensity desires tie customer wishes to the desired behaviours inside the website arouse the will of money transfer in the customer mind exploring the source of his desires and expanding the benefit that could come from a product i e something that will lower the unsatisfactory level of one or more situations Those are also the places where to handle objections and negative comments The e salesman must elaborate on those and address customer concerns hopefully getting customers to like and trust him When those places are public like a forum also the way the interaction is managed is a Sales tool that shows that the relationship with the e salesman is entertaining and instructive When you are invited for the cup of tea in the shop you will sit in the middle of it where passer by will see you are enjoying the relationship the nice tea ware The Marketing work was performed and the customer did enter the e shop but the reason he is there that day at that time and if and what he will buy is unknown Maybe he entered the shop only with a feeling as a Complainer the source of the request I m so unhappy or maybe he arrived with a possible solution brand and value in mind as an Initiator he understands the issue and lo
36. es the shop searching other websites for a similar red product is high If you leave it to the vending machine there will be a message like sorry this item is not available today and redirection to a page of the product selection area In the e shop the e salesman will act trying to secure the sales of another item before or without saying that the first item is not available The customer selected the product and that means he was positive or not negative to all other characteristics and there is 47 66 We will sell e customers to the customers Gianluigi Delucca Edition I e a chance leveraging those E salesman could say The item selected is wonderful What a material What a design from the Argument list of important features but in that size Blue colour is the most attractive and more fashionable and more young looking and Argument list of why blue is better than red Just see how it is nice use of Sales tools like bigger or better defined pictures and elegant more pictures In size M the option here a product in red in a smaller picture than the blue one could do a better job Of course add to cart buttons for the blue item and for the red option are now active in the page waiting for the click Again it is not possible to say what will happen Customer and Marketing arrived together to buy a red item size M and now there is a new Influencer at work opening unexpected d
37. f in some way the dialogue is confirming changing the pathway to money transfer What change in our behaviour which click actions become available after we get the info 2 Who we think the customer thinks we are For instance we would like him to think that we are e partners sharing his goals e a valuable sought after support e always the first call in case of need e apleasant company always bringing an improvement in his life quality Therefore e we structure continuous interaction and feedback He should know that we are there and we like him to stay with us Let s define with him the optimal frequency daily weekly for each contact mode e mail fax phone adapt to his preferred contact communication channels and let him know we care Does he needs prefers a form We care e we offer as many personal contact with the website technicians specialists always people trained in the sales side of their job as possible in order to deepen the dialogue e we always react commercially gifts and or special offer to a 39 66 We will sell e customers to the customers Gianluigi Delucca Edition I contact request We like him and we offer him our best e we show to him where to find and meet us in the real world We would appreciate a visit e we like to share important data we wish that the customer appreciates how much he is getting from us and to tell him how much we appreciate what he does for us
38. fter sales service is part of the product sold and Sales is interested as long as it contributes to create positive negative feedbacks to be used as references of the salesman performance not the product itself that is part of the Marketing work for sales to new customers especially in the Market expert role and to maintain contact for possible new sales to the same customer There is at least part of that work that is valuable for Sales and when it is performed according to requests that part should be under Selling costs Example after one year there is a maintenance check It is possible to report user feedbacks to present to him possible upgrades on his most interesting functions and or explain him new features that could impact his work and connect the e salesman from him to the Initiator role 2 If that is something that is required before money transfer is approved then it is still part of the sales process and should be under full Sales manager responsibility 3 It could also be a product to sell like extended warranty time frame or maintenance contracts User as a Contact source Sales is interested in expanding repeating the sales process Most of the times User is in contact with the Initiator It is therefore e salesman interest that the use of the product is pushing towards a contact For instance it is a standard feature of a product that will require a repeated fee over time or to buy disposables or frequent updates
39. he objective of information management is the change in behaviour As an information provider e commerce is very good compared with the physical world The Customer will do the learning phase when he likes weekends evenings as long as he wish few minutes few hours with as many interactions as needed at will We want those information to be part of the sales process to be Sales tools Often Marketing provides sales tools but sometime it provides only marketing material It is common experience that Sales receives the material out of kindness and company s etiquette and then discretely dispose of it Most of the times the first reason is that Sales is not paid to distribute marketing material the second is that the material provided does not fit in the sales process or in the salesman s working routine The same happens in a website marketing material and sales tools maybe are similar in content but they are used toward different goals Sales tools should be able to e show each and all available products with indications where it is possible to see them in the real world e answer any technical and performance question from the customer offering Personal contact Documents In house and at home courses Application Notes Educational files Users manuals How products are made Technical Data Sheet Product demonstration Technical Hotline Telephone support on applications Short and long term economic value evaluation
40. ith certifications e the Technical service could become a provider of maintenance contracts or leasing with planned exchange with new models Advertising could become customer meetings organisations or user groups management or events management e Accounting could provide software packages or apps Paths analysis and Products out of sales tools is a powerful mix For instance for a corner shop of fresh vegetables that decides to open an e commerce it would mean e development of existing services o booking options for bags ready to pick up at defined time at the corner shop o booking of home office delivery custom preparations of vegetables single or mixed washed and pre cutted e sales tools list of season vegetables expected in the next few weeks and related recipes diets market expert user roles comments and greeting from loyal customers all roles O O 61 66 We will sell e customers to the customers Gianluigi Delucca Edition I o pictures of best or famous customers stopping at the corner with ad campaign take a picture with decision maker user roles e new products from sales tools o Advertising on the e commerce website o Advertising In order to develop the advertising segment for home office delivery there will be a bike with a suitable brand in front e g The biking gourmet with ads on the back The advertising customer could be for instance the butcher s shop nearb
41. ling Italian translation Montalto 1954 Carnagie Dale How to win friends and influence people 1936 Italian edition Marazza 2005 Cialdini Robert B Influence the psychology of persuasion 1984 1993 Italian translation Noferi 1995 Goi Antonello Lavorare al call center 2005 Hopkins Kench Selling for Dummies UK 2007 Iyer Vinoo Managing and motivating your agents and distributors 1992 Italian edition Jackson 1995 Silvano Mario Vendite in azione 2003 Silvano Mario Come ottenere il massimo dalle vendite 2005 Manuale di tecniche di vendita QUERRE 1992 I m not able to say if my writing refers to any of those or other books and courses If so I ll be happy to recognise references and teachers In case please report them by e mail addressed to ggdelucca medicoimpianti it 6 66 We will sell e customers to the customers Gianluigi Delucca Edition I Contents Preface Page 3 Contents Page 7 Introduction Page 9 Section 1 E commerce as a vending machine Page 15 e Recognition e Sales procedures e After money transfer Sales measures Page 25 e Numbers may show or hide issues Section 2 The e shop in the bazaar Page 33 e Welcoming o Relationship e Leadership o Customer as Buyer o Customer as Decision maker o Customer as Market expert o Customer as Initiator and Influencer o Customer as User Sales measures II Page 51 Customer s roles Clickstream Time Value of the e sales
42. ly impacting costs giving value to customer retention In one e commerce website you may find old customer new customer Total sales 100 100 Total margin 30 30 Website costs 10 10 CRM cost 10 0 Net margin 10 20 Selling costs sales 20 10 The above and similar measures are able to monitor the performance but will need internal and external references to be meaningful The internal reference is the history of sales in a given time frame and may show if there is an improvement in efficacy The external reference is market data that may suggest external influences Numbers may show or hide issues Sales cannot fix a wrong business model Please take care with numbers Example Let s say that two nearly identical companies are selling exactly the same product with the following results at the end of the year 28 66 We will sell e customers to the customers Gianluigi Delucca Edition I selling Sales lead reached units Market covered reached potential Some of them will enter our shop units Company 1 Potential Anyone could be a sales lead units Only a fraction of them will know that we are Marketing efficiency entering the shop reached Some of them will buy units Sales efficacy buyers entering Company performance buyers potential Market share our buyers total buyers 50 50 20 40 10 50 10 50 Company 2 100 50 50 20 40 10 50 10 50 Both companies are ha
43. man Interface with marketing Section 3 Interactions among Sales Channels Page 57 e Paths analysis e Products out of sales tools Where is the limit Page 63 e Pv6 e From etiquette to e robbery 7 66 We will sell e customers to the customers Gianluigi Delucca Edition I 8 66 We will sell e customers to the customers Gianluigi Delucca Edition I Introduction The book is divided in 3 sections Those could be read in the proposed sequence from Sales of one product with no salesman to one or more e salesmen in one channel to more Sales channels or independently The first section describes sales without a salesman but with a sales manager The first chapter E commerce as a vending machine would like to underscore the concept that the cost of a product from a customer point of view is always higher often much higher than the price that the manufacturer asks That cost is the working space of the Sales activity The second chapter Sales measures I wishes to point out the fact that there is no management without measures but the meaning of those numbers is defined inside each company The second section examines the customer from the e salesman s point of view The first chapter The e shop in the bazaar describes one of the possible definitions of the customer internal structure The e salesman s activity could be limited toward some of customer s roles for a step by step implementation or when th
44. n the above example could be of little use It is also possible to compute a value of the ratio number of visits invoice for each customer more or less similar to the number of visits needed for a salesman to get an order We have to remember that a customer not always uses the same IP and the number of visitors could be lower and the ratio number of visits invoice will be higher than what is computed Again since only the Buyer role will write the order the value may be misleading But measures should be useful for the future the management How could we improve A classical way is splitting Total sales Total sales number of customers mean sales volume 100 10 10 Therefore there are only two ways to grow sell e to more customers e higher quantities to existing customers We can write the formula with more details Total sales number of new old customers number of invoices mean invoice value 100 8 2 20 5 26 66 We will sell e customers to the customers Gianluigi Delucca Edition I and more Total sales number of new old customers number of invoices mean number of items mean item price 100 8 2 20 5 16 Therefore in order to increase revenues you may increase number of customers Working more and or decreasing the average time dedicated to each customer to be able to manage more add new and or change the mix swap old customers with others of higher valu
45. ndow of the street You must enter the door to become a customer Let s say a new lead just landed on the Home page and that we are selling an unbranded product in one wide segment like food We know that the time spent on a site is always an issue a couple of wrong clicks and the lead is out In that situation we are forced to offer few options that maximize the probability of the first positive click in the door For instance options could be e best sellers by type e g best seller cheese and wine e list of categories by type e g selection list among cheeses pasta canned food e best offer of the day If we succeed the sales lead click we got a customer and we have to develop the relationship as needed 16 66 We will sell e customers to the customers Gianluigi Delucca Edition I Sales procedures Customer standing in front of the vending machine is ready to buy Marketing job is completed but the customer will have to learn and execute sales process procedures We could think at it as a part of the product that the customer pay with his time and performance That is a part of costs from a customer point of view On the vending machine there are instructions of use e how much money will be needed which sizes of the money will be accepted where to put the money if product is available where and how take it out e Who to contact when the machine steals your money If it is taking too long to underst
46. ng both pages than men or that old men and old women enter the same landing page etc While Sales could find out for instance that it was able to get money transfer more from men than from women no matter the landing page Both Marketing and Sales will try to improve their performance Both Marketing and Sales therefore need to get access to navigation s raw data 54 66 We will sell e customers to the customers Gianluigi Delucca Edition I for their own evaluation and measures The company s management needs to double check that those measures are coherent shared and to take responsibility assigning targets and resources to each function Comparing expected values from Marketing and results from Sales we could spot where we are weak and we may improve as long as we are able to modify our behaviour Redirect Marketing action and see a change of landing pages results could take longer in some cases than adapting Sales activity and vice versa for others There is a need to coordinate timing of actions and measurements In the above example it could happen that Marketing was planning different landing pages for men and for women but the result is that both sex are visiting both pages While Marketing will try to solve the issue Sales may adapt with a question that will define the sex as soon as the customer enters the site Or it could happen that landing pages are working well but Sales is much more successful with men than with
47. o marketing or sales efforts directed toward the wrong customer role Example Weight roles 1 Weight roles 2 Total Initiator 10 00 40 00 30 00 Influencer 10 00 20 00 17 00 Decision maker 40 00 10 00 20 00 Buyer 10 00 25 00 20 00 User 30 00 5 00 13 00 Value of the invoice 1 000 2 000 3000 A marketing action based only on Case I data will target Decision maker and User roles and will believe that 70 of customers roles is covered while the true total would be 33 If based only on Case 2 it will target Initiator Buyer and Influencer and will believe that 85 of 25 66 We will sell e customers to the customers Gianluigi Delucca Edition I customers roles is covered while the true total would be 67 Then a good sales performance will bring lower results than expected There is a better situation when there are more landing pages We could then compute the efficacy on customers entering from different landing pages guessing that each page is taking in a different customer role Of course there are other characteristics of customers that would require careful evaluation of numbers For instance there could be a distribution of customers vs pieces that makes the mean quantity not a good indicator In our example it could be that 70 of buyers buys I piece 70 25 buy 3 75 5 buy 31 155 If there is no way to know if the 50 of first clicks that did not buy was in one or in another group efficacy measured as i
48. oducts for 3 different customer bases The one apple description is a simplified code that refers to one of the physical contents The full explanation of the product both physical and non physical would be too long for accounting I will not give a definition of Marketing there are too many available the management process responsible for identifying anticipating and satisfying customer requirements profitability or the process that plans and execute design pricing promote and distribute ideas goods and services in order to create exchanges that satisfy the goals of individuals and organisations and nearly 100 more However I expect it not only to create sales leads looking for the product but also to let them be able to recognise where they can buy the product or product range they are looking for 12 66 We will sell e customers to the customers Gianluigi Delucca Edition I Using the above definitions everything needed to create and deliver products is not Sales the information collection that the sales force is bringing back for the use of R amp D Marketing production is not a Selling cost administration costs to manage and move money from the customer bank account are Selling costs e g from customer bank account to credit card to manufacturer to area agent to salesman bank account the cost necessary to enable customers to meet the salesman is not part of the sales costs but of the m
49. of different manufacturers to service providers a television technician a plumber who sell them and install for the end user So there are 3 money transfers in line two indirect from end user to the service provider and from the service provider to the local dealer and one direct from the local dealer to the company Now we want to add in parallel one direct channel from the end user to the company Actually we get two segments e End users that are able to install or to service the product themselves e End users that want that product no matter the service provider opinion or before deciding which service provider to work with We are also opening other theoretical options e The service provider that buys from the e commerce e The end user that buys from a local shop taking the case when the local dealer can also sell to private individuals for a total of 3 direct money transfer from 3 different customers local dealers service providers end users and 3 indirect from the end user to the service provider from the service provider to the local dealer from the end user to the local dealer 58 66 We will sell e customers to the customers Gianluigi Delucca Edition I In order to defend our today customer base the local dealer we need to find more reasons a for the service provider to keep the relationship with the local dealer b for the end user to keep the relationship with the service provider The above should
50. oks for a solution The issue is not enough xxx and we need yyy that will cost zzz or he is just an accompanying person as an Influencer that supports the request He is really unhappy And that makes me feeling bad WE need a solution Classic example 46 66 We will sell e customers to the customers Gianluigi Delucca Edition I husband and wife shopping together Depending on the type of customer it could be needed to move 1 from feelings T m so unhappy to rational comprehension of an I got that issue issue to describe implications of the That is a big issue issue in order to fully understand the need of a solution to evaluate benefits of a solution I will move to a better position for the following reasons maybe with impacts also on other and I ll improve also that performances as a secondary result up to define a solution for the Then I need a b c Decision maker And his urgency and I need it now But sometime a simple I know you are not happy Try that now and you will improve would work as well Example Let s say that the customer is just landed in the page of a product in red size M and production is telling to Sales that in that colour the size M is not available today Marketing s money to bring the customer is already spent and made his work Suddenly the add to cart option will disappear The chance that the customer leav
51. oors Question Is that easy to change the result of Marketing work that explained to the customer that the red item was the very best for his needs Is the customer a puppet we are playing with Answer Not at all What we do is to explore possibilities There is the possibility at that time that that individual customer e was taking a wrong decision and we are helping him to take the right decision e is feeling that one characteristic like red blue is not as important for him as Marketing is planning e non rational side is somehow sensible to an alternative No one knows in advance Customer as User He will use the product and sometime he will impact on the efficiency efficacy of it If he is not satisfied then the product was not the right one and someone will be the culpable For the salesman it could be important that neither the salesman nor the product will be identified as the cause of the mistake High priority to complaints especially at delivery time is to be shared between Marketing and Sales 48 66 We will sell e customers to the customers Gianluigi Delucca Edition I User and After sales service The name after sales is a bit misleading since it covers a range of activities Some confusion is added when people taking care of installation and customer training is also the same that take care of technical service and maintenance or quality assurance 1 If that is something that happens after money transfer A
52. op an e commerce site as a technological advanced vending machine boosting the sales experience and managing several communication channels for sales tools and CRM Does it make sense for a manufacturer to invest in such an effort on the vending machine For me it is the e commerce version of the classic management question Should we hire and manage a direct sales force or hire and manage an external network of agents distributors An e commerce should be at least a well working vending machine However no matter the number of options the fine grain of micro marketing the vending machine can only instruct on how to follow his own procedures One or a full line of vending machines are not making a shop So what makes an e shop The e salesman 23 66 We will sell e customers to the customers Gianluigi Delucca Edition I 24 66 We will sell e customers to the customers Gianluigi Delucca Edition I Sales measures There is only one way to measure sales the paid invoice One of the new characteristics that is often underlined by Web Marketing is the possibility to measure actions and performances The meaning of what is measured is not always easy to understand Let s say we have a website with one product and one landing page and we collect some data Total first clicks 200 Number of invoices 100 Efficacy 50 00 Number of pieces 300 Mean quantity 3 The efficacy level or its fluctuations could be due t
53. or me yet The C V is available at https www linkedin com profile view id 17987971 amp trk nav_responsive_tab_ profile Author s acknowledgements I m writing in English which is not my mother tongue Ms and Mr Rushton were so kind to read the first draft of the first part and suggest those corrections that make it readable also for someone living not far from London UK I tried to follow their suggestions and general correction of the book is to British English Any deficiency is obviously due to the author Please report any corrections suggested by sending e mail to ggdelucca medicoimpianti it Suggested readings Usunier Jean Claude Lee Julie Anne Marketing Across Cultures Gareth Morgan Images Mackay Charles Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds License This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License http creativecommons org licenses by nc nd 4 0 Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial NoDerivatives 4 0 International License 5 66 We will sell e customers to the customers Gianluigi Delucca Edition I References After writing the draft I went to my bookshelf and here the list of what I found about sales Handwritten notes of a SPIN course The very first course on Sales I got back in 1981 Sergi Giovanni notes on MBA selling segment 1997 Printed Bettger F How I raise myself from failure to success in sel
54. ppy and boast to be second to none There is a large market to serve and therefore both are willing to invest money The company business model was a success and expansion of that model is the only way to follow Large investments will be made many more shops will be available and richer bonus for everybody reaching new goals The Sales manager of Company I quietly starts to search a position in another company and will accept one with a lower salary After one year marketing numbers were great and identical for both companies More leads reached and even a bigger share entering the shop nearly doubling the number of customers Potential Sales lead reached Market covered Some of them will enter our shop Marketing efficiency Some of them will buy Sales efficacy Company performance Market share 29 66 Company I Company 2 100 70 70 70 0 70 0 37 37 52 9 52 9 14 23 37 8 62 2 14 0 23 0 37 8 62 2 We will sell e customers to the customers Gianluigi Delucca Edition I Company I was not happy at all of his 40 sales increase due to Sales force poor performance During the first year the Sales manager of Company I was monitoring how many customers were aware of competition and noticed that some of them were aware of both companies and visited both shops He made his own computation over the first year results In Bold computed percentages Potential 100 Col Co2 visiting Col Co2 one bo
55. rapeutic and at one point it can be indicated as necessary or possible an instrumental examination with the system we are selling Since those methods are taught the performer expects to be able to do with our device at least what he has learned possibly the way he learned it It becomes important for the seller of the medical device in the clinical setting the knowledge and contacts available in teaching centres These centres are usually also the ones who develop and validate new procedures before those are taught For Sales those are the 60 66 We will sell e customers to the customers Gianluigi Delucca Edition I people who the customer will feel as most reliable Market experts Both Marketing and R amp D will also be interested in them What the company could offer to stay in touch For instance research tools i e tools that provide the opportunity to go beyond the specifications of the instruments produced for the clinic Then an effective way to cover sales activity costs is to develop and market research instrumentations that will be managed as a version of the clinical device with added features In that way the research unit will become a teaching tool and for the customer that will buy the clinical version there will be no learning curve But with the same approach you can analyse any sales tool and try to develop it as a product For instance e the User manual could develop to basic and advanced courses w
56. ritical The buyer is on his way and nothing should interfere during the process But Now customer got some level of trust in the e salesman because he is ready to transfer money in advance Therefore the e salesman could leverage and try to take leadership acting as Influencer and or Market expert Example The customer is at Checkout ready for money transfer to buy a soap of Brand A That would be fine but the e salesman is asked to sell 41 66 We will sell e customers to the customers Gianluigi Delucca Edition I more Brand B instead and therefore starts interaction with one question Nice selection did you try it already If the answer is NO than the Checkout proceed if the answer is YES then the e salesman would say some of our customers that used your selection afterwards were looking for a more intense perfume the most probable important characteristic in that situation from the Argument list and liked Brand B One piece costs xxx and there is also a special offer of Brand A Brand B at yyy At this point options are open e Customer was ready to buy Brand A and will buy it e Customer was not fully satisfied for some reason of Brand A and is willing to swap or test e Customer is in the mood of try and see and is willing to move to Brand B e Customer is confused will exit Checkout and goes back to other roles No one knows the result in advance neither the e salesman nor the customer It is
57. search engine I would like some something or social word of mouth I would like what my friend got There are also functionality issues of the sales process that need to be evaluated and managed The most common are Downtime and Slowdown The first is when the Sales process does not work e g banking services are not available the second when Navigation slowdown e g peak hours queueing Increasing CMS flexibility brings increasing demand for web store management as third party service After money transfer After money transfer is done the customer is still in front of the vending machine and a second sales process starts For instance the smart vending machine could ask itself e Maybe he was willing to buy another piece and forgot it e That one is good why he does not buy another one right away doubling the benefit e That was one product maybe he needs also another product e g one because I was down a second as a gift Should he review again my product list so he does not need to be back in few minutes 20 66 We will sell e customers to the customers Gianluigi Delucca Edition I e Shall he double check if someone wishes him to buy something while he is still here e Maybe the Customer is in a group and needs to buy more than one unit should he repeat the full process There is a quantity option Sooner or later the Customer gets the product and is ready to walk away Is he going back to the
58. sed Motivation For the customer money transfer is a step on his way to get the product in order to achieve something Example e I like to do it money transfer because it is the right way to achieve the goal i e beauty e Ilike the goal it is of high value i e beauty is important e I like the reason I wish to reach that goal i e With beauty love will come e Lam convinced that doing it I will achieve the goal expectation of success i e I m sure that afterwards I ll be beautiful Decision maker got some motivation from other customer roles E salesman will act as Initiator and Influencer in order to double check that he noticed all interesting from the argument list features Example the product will provide beauty as well as low calories intake or trendiness or some people buy it for the beauty and then discover the pleasure of using it As a Decision maker customer will ask himself Am I taking the right decision The sentiment that e salesman is expecting him to reach is If I do it money transfer I m doing right The confirmation sentiment could be internal it is the right thing to do it and external I see others doing it others say it is right I do it and for instance will be based on e Self Esteem I am able to do it because I did it already others 43 66 We will sell e customers to the customers Gianluigi Delucca Edition I say that I can do e Adequacy I have the me
59. situation At least the classic This is the best product because we are the best shop in town and we offer the best quality Start a discussion without an argument list is not the best path to success Create support and develop the database of the argument list for different types of customers and customer roles research and the sharing of experiences of salesmen is part of the sales manager job Each company will have to decide his own definition of customer s roles and how to deal with them Bring any message costs time and money and it means to compete in order to occupy the maximum space in the ways of communication that reach customers Take always care to carry only positive messages at least in tone leaders are expected to positively know what to do Customer s roles are always mixed and it is the e salesman that must understand and take leadership During interaction we wish to double check and define roles manage communications be positive and active For clarity of presentation purposes I will present theoretical interactions one role at a time starting from the end of sales the Buyer role and proceeding backward toward the sales lead Customer as Buyer He got the duty to buy one solution i e a product with a budget Numbers are important how many customers are buying more than one product in your e commerce If the answer is less than 10 you know that after product choice speed to money transfer is c
60. terest he is selling what is extremely important in his personal life References to third knowledge of the environment the customer wish to be part of Influence able to get in touch with other people involved in the sales process Serious in the sense to respect commitments and correctness of info provided Polite not criticize praise with the shop and the product Welcoming and general easy to use of the website Info knowledge on products characteristics jargon technical terms and uses Talks the local language and understand dialects Graphic and wording of passion and creativity Graphic and wording Showing wish and will to cooperate Graphic and wording showing focus and commitment toward product performance and use References to third Influence Serious Appreciation of clicks made 34 66 We will sell e customers to the customers Gianluigi Delucca Edition I Closing Techniques Easy and suggested pathway to money transfer Follow up After sales greetings and confirmation of the positive effects of money transfer It is evident that at least some characteristics of the e salesman will not be available at each landing page as them are not from the salesman in the shop The customer from the e salesman point of view Also the salesman got expectations about customers Street e shop I m in a position where the Landing pages customer expects me to be and
61. th Sales lead reached 50 50 40 10 Some of them will enter our shop 20 20 14 6 146 14 6 Marketing efficiency 40 40 0 35 0 60 0 Some of them will buy 10 10 82 6 4 Sales efficacy 50 0 50 0 57 1 33 3 42 9 66 7 Company performance 10 0 10 0 Market share 50 0 50 0 It was not difficult then to forecast that using the same Business Model same Marketing and Sales models the results expected by the management of Company I were not there and there were no Bonus for him at the end of the year 30 66 We will sell e customers to the customers Gianluigi Delucca Edition I Potential 100 Col Co2 visiting Col Co2 one both Sales lead reached 70 70 20 50 Some of them will enter our shop 37 37 7 30 730 730 Marketing efficiency 52 9 52 9 35 0 60 0 Some of them will buy 14 23 4 10 320 Sales efficacy 37 8 62 2 57 1 33 3 42 9 66 7 Company performance 14 0 23 0 Market share 37 8 62 2 The performances of Marketing and Sales of both companies have not changed the ratio between the types of customers changed The product of Company I was weaker in front of the product of Company 2 and then more customers were able to compare more have decided to buy from the Company 2 Why the Sales manager of Company 1 left instead of improving his sales channel performance He was already doing a good job 57 1 against 42 9 so difficult to improve Product comparison is the weak point while we stated that Product is th
62. to welcome him inside the shop or at the door or outside in the street I expect him to be like marketing Understanding the site and or my experience are telling navigation procedures me he will be to behave politely to be able to communicate with me BUT I know that some customer will not be like that and I m trained to deal with unpleasant and difficult customers In case of need I expect to receive support from the cashier colleagues the Contacts forms expanded store manager windows help windows alternative communication channels 35 66 We will sell e customers to the customers Gianluigi Delucca Edition I Relationship The salesman in the shop got his own talent and learning about the way it is more appropriate to relate with a customer Maybe he is a natural not fully aware of what he is doing adapting himself to the relationship or maybe he is using learned techniques to act talk to dress But for a salesman there is no choice he has to take customers as each of them is The way they should be could be will be is the marketing department job The effort that the salesman has to do in order to find the best channel of communication possible with different customers has led to the idea that the salesman is acting An opinion that brings as a consequence that you should never trust a salesman because he is saying what he believes you wish to hear from him without relationship with truth
63. ur warranty where we are better As a Market expert most probably he will cross our company again and will provide his advice to others We want him to feel that our e shop is one of the places important for him to check regularly because there are interesting and updated information from reliable people We may ask Did we provide him with the info he was looking for Should we forward them for him to other people Shall he be interested in a newsletter with technical details Does he need data info structured by us for him e g comparison charts We want to be a major source of info for the Market expert Sometime a salesman could be authoritative enough on some topics that his word will not need further checking But we do not need only the confirmation that we are offering the best partnership A doubt that we want the Market expert to eliminate for the Decision maker is may I find a better option later on The Decision maker should receive the message that nothing better will come in the useful time frame and there are no 45 66 We will sell e customers to the customers Gianluigi Delucca Edition I reasons to delay the money transfer Example There is no need to wait for the announced new release of a software package because it will be updated for free for one year after installation Customer as Initiator and Influencer Customers have desires Those are rationalized descriptions of situations needs pleasur
64. ustomers Gianluigi Delucca Edition I
65. uying process and Sales and to make sure that the customer does not leave the shop without stopping at the cashier desk For a website marketing will bring sales leads in front of the landing page That page will confirm to the lead that it is the place where he will find the product he is looking for and it will receive from him the first positive click E salesman main functions then are e welcoming the customer It is the easiest way to start a relationship Therefore it is a must for him e take leadership and help with the buying decision that is the right choice buy now Welcoming Sooner the salesman is able to start the relationship more opportunities to take leadership will be available Therefore welcoming is important The e salesman from the customer point of view When the customer enters the shop he will best relate with a shop assistant that meets his expectations The list of characteristics expected consciously or unconsciously is tied to his culture and knowledge The e salesman should give the impression to meet those expectations 33 66 We will sell e customers to the customers Gianluigi Delucca Edition I Street e shop Look age sex type of customers Graphic and wording coherent met cultural level wealth status Sales experience Sales experience in the field Experience of sales in the area Enthusiasm Maximum effort That is possible attitude Maximum in
66. xpecting to find at least our products available when he goes to the local dealer shop He will have to go there anyway for other products but 59 66 We will sell e customers to the customers Gianluigi Delucca Edition I knowing that our product will be ready for him to withdraw e End users will find on the e commerce site the nearest service provider A kind of advertising that the service provider could not be willing or able to manage and now free for him e E commerce will require technical service support 24 7 that also the service providers will like e E commerce will require educational videos that also new employees both of local dealers and of service providers will appreciate Not to mention of the saving of the learning time required to evaluate and understand new products e E commerce requires a CRM that at least allow you to know how many products and which models are installed in the area which will create for the service provider a free database We may perform most of those actions also without the e commerce but the investment will have a lower ROI Products out of sales tools Such an expansion of sales activity needed to manage additional sales channels takes a lot of resources One of the ways to finance it is to create products out of sales tools Example a medical device is part of clinical diagnostic therapeutic procedures When a doctor examines a patient he applies a procedure diagnostic or the
67. y Maybe there will be trendy bags and containers to carry on the street or in the office with a choice of reusable disposables eco friendly with rubbish collector o The biking gourmet brand may open a new market segment food delivery for the corner shop The butcher will not only advertise but use the service for his own customers Was the above development of new products The biking gourmet brand possible without e commerce Yes But let s see it from the customer point of view The customer will eat at the office with near other people They will see the product maybe will taste it get information and decide that they too want it What will they have to do Go to the corner shop and buy But if they didn t do it before there are reasons the corner is not on their way home it is not open at that time there is a queue because it is rush time and the last step of marketing the contact with the salesman is not happening and they remain only leads With e commerce the added sales channel they can meet the salesman even without knowing where the corner shop is 62 66 We will sell e customers to the customers Gianluigi Delucca Edition I Where is the limit IPv6 I believe that e commerce will grow far beyond what we can imagine today With the spread of the new numbering system IP v6 everything will be numbered If one person lives 100 years he will total 36 500 days If each day he will buy 1 000
68. y life let s start something new o others to be defined b Is the machine clean If the machine is or looks dirty maybe I will not touch it If no one is caring maybe it is not working maybe there is nothing in it let s search another one If the answer is NO he is still a sales lead on the Marketing side If the answer is YES than he become a Customer and the sales process starts 15 66 We will sell e customers to the customers Gianluigi Delucca Edition I The shop window of a street shop performs the same task when a passer by stops in front of it The shop window s function is to make sense of what is inside the store and motivate the customer to enter It filters customers from the passers by sales lead In e commerce this function is delegated to the Landing pages i e pages that put the sales lead in front of the product You can find websites where the home page shows only the company s name and an Enter button sometime with a long artistic flash animation How may Customers know if inside there is the product Contents of landing pages could age and provide the same feelings of a dirty machine especially if something is not working properly Of course a landing page could not be perfect to all type of customers but is it coherent with most Is it not bad neutral for the others The arrival in the landing page is not enough it s like stopping in front of a shop wi

Dear colleagues, I` writing few pages about web sales

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